Kim Tate — the powerful, cold, and controlling woman — is in an unprecedented danger.

And that danger comes not from her traditional enemy, but from someone Kim never considered a rival: Lydia Dingle.

As soon as Lydia returns, she immediately shows an unusual interest in Kim’s new love life.

No one knows who Kim is seeing — but Lydia can see the awkwardness, the evasive eyes, and the furtive actions that Kim thought she was hiding well.

A shrewd person like Lydia doesn’t miss a detail.

Kim tries to hide the secret relationship under the pretext of work, meetings, and charity activities. But Lydia, with her intuition from someone who has lived in chaos, knows that Kim is involved in something that, if exposed, will evaporate her reputation in an instant.

Immediately after their first encounter, Lydia began to “probe”: accidentally passing by Home Farm during the hours Kim usually pretended to be out, asking “innocent” questions like: “Where did you go last night?” or “Why is your room door locked all the time?” Kim’s reaction was clearly unusual, even at times almost losing her composure. In the eyes of the villagers, this was just a small matter. But to Kim, Lydia suddenly became like a mirror reflecting her greatest fear.

Joe Tate made things more complicated. When he learned that Lydia had his eye on Kim, he became more nervous than ever. Joe was not only worried that Kim would be exposed — he was also worried that Lydia would drag him into trouble. Lydia’s return reminded Joe of things he had witnessed, secrets that seemed deeply buried.

During a tense night, Kim decided to meet Lydia alone to “talk it out”. But no one saw Kim sitting still. She tried to act tough, but Lydia looked her straight in the eye and said something that made Kim speechless:

“I know you’re hiding something that doesn’t belong to you.”

Kim almost lost control of herself. She knew that if Lydia really knew anything, Home Farm would collapse immediately.

From that moment on, Kim lived in a state of half fear and half anger. She began to control Joe more closely, watching Lydia from afar, even considering spreading rumors to discredit Lydia. But Lydia wasn’t the type to be easily cornered. On the contrary, she was watching Kim — and seemed to be waiting for an opportunity.

They were both playing a life-or-death game. If one of them let her guard down, the other would win.

Christmas was coming — but instead of warmth, Kim felt like she was living in a trap of her own making. And Lydia? She was waiting for the right moment to pull Kim down from her throne.